Although molecular tests for drug-resistant TB perform well on culture isolates, their accuracy using clinical samples, particularly from TB and HIV-endemic settings, requires clarification. The MTBDRplus and MTBDRsl line ...

In this study we describe a new methodology to physically probe individual complexes formed between proteins and DNA. By combining nanoscale, high speed physical force measurement with sensitive fluorescence imaging we ...

Retinal degenerative disorders (RDDs) encompass a group of inherited diseases characterised by vision loss. The genetic and clinical complexity poses a challenge in unravelling the molecular genetic aetiology of this group ...

During Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) infection, the initial interactions between the pathogen and the host cell determines internalization and innate immune response events. It is established that detergents such as ...

The most widely used ante-mortem diagnostic tests for tuberculosis in cattle are the tuberculin skin test and the interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) release assay, both of which measure cell-mediated immune responses to Mycobacterium ...

The aim of this study was to assess and characterize Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) genotypic diversity in Tanzania, as well as in neighbouring East and other several African countries. We used spoligotyping to ...

For more than three decades, foot and musculoskeletal conditions have been documented among both Asian [Elephas maximus] and African [Loxodonta africana] elephants in zoos. Although environmental factors have been hypothesized ...

Introduction:
Biomarkers are needed to monitor tuberculosis (TB) treatment and predict treatment outcomes. We evaluated the Xpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) assay as a biomarker for TB treatment during and at the end of the 24 ...

Background:
In the absence of randomized clinical trials, meta-analysis of individual patient data (IPD) from observational studies may provide the most accurate effect estimates for an intervention. However, confounding ...

Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) is a complex disease and is one of the major leading causes of blindness worldwide. Genome-wide association studies have successfully identified several common variants associated with ...

Summary Points:
• The WHO End TB Strategy, endorsed by the World Health Assembly in May 2014,
has the ambitious goal of ending the global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic by 2035, with
targets of a 95% decline in deaths due ...

Mutations in the parkin gene are the most common cause of early-onset Parkinson’s disease (PD). Parkin, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, is involved in respiratory chain function, mitophagy, and mitochondrial dynamics. Human cellular ...

Background
The ESX secretion system, also known as the Type VII secretion system, is mostly found in mycobacteria and plays important roles in nutrient acquisition and host pathogenicity. One of the five ESXs, ESX-3, ...

Background: We explored premature stop-gain variants to test the hypothesis that variants, which are likely to
have a consequence on protein structure and function, will reveal important insights with respect to the
phenotypes ...

Background: Real-time PCR (qPCR) based methods, such as the Xpert MTB/RIF, are increasingly being used to diagnose
tuberculosis (TB). While qualitative methods are adequate for diagnosis, the therapeutic monitoring of TB ...

Background: Intracranial aneurysms (IAs), abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs), and thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAAs) all have a familial predisposition. Given that aneurysm types are known to co‐occur, we hypothesized that ...

A bidirectional communication between the immune and endocrine systems exists and facilitates optimum responses in the host during infections. This is in part achieved through changes in secretion patterns of hypothalamic ...

Utilizing data from published tuberculosis (TB) genome-wide association studies (GWAS),
we use a bioinformatics pipeline to detect all polymorphisms in linkage disequilibrium (LD)
with variants previously implicated in ...

The Esx and PE/PPE families of proteins are among the most immunodominant mycobacterial antigens and have thus been the focus of research to develop vaccines and immunological tests for diagnosis of bovine and human ...

Background: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) remains an unresolved threat resulting in great annual loss of life.
The role of B cells during the protective immunity to Mtb is still unclear. B cells have been described as ...

Background: New treatment options are needed to maintain and improve therapy for tuberculosis, which caused
the death of 1.5 million people in 2013 despite potential for an 86 % treatment success rate. A greater ...

Background: Approximately 10 % of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome is made up of two families of genes that
are poorly characterized due to their high GC content and highly repetitive nature. The PE and PPE families ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Tuberculosis has continued to be a global health concern and warrants an increased understanding of its causative agent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) in terms of its evolution, virulence ...

Background.The clinical relevance of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), detected by liquid more than solid culture in sputum
specimens from a South African mining workforce, is uncertain. We aimed to describe the current ...